What is Unreal Engine 4?
Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) is a popular game engine used for creating interactive 3D content. It was developed by Epic Games, and it has been used to create games such as Fortnite and Gears of War 4. UE4 is known for its high-performance graphics, powerful physics simulation, and intuitive scripting system.
Getting started with Unreal Engine 4
Before you start using UE4, you’ll need to download it from the Epic Games Store. You can do this by following these steps:
- Go to the Epic Games Store (https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/download)
- Click on the “Unreal Engine” button in the top right corner of the page
- Select the version you want (UE4 is currently version 4.26)
- Click on the “Download” button and follow the installation instructions
Once you’ve installed UE4, you can open it up by clicking on its icon on your desktop or in your application launcher.
Understanding the Unreal Engine 4 interface
The UE4 interface can be overwhelming at first, but there are a few key elements you should familiarize yourself with:
- Content Browser: This is where all of your assets (such as models, textures, and animations) are stored. You can use the Content Browser to drag and drop these assets into your scene.
- Hierarchy: The Hierarchy view shows you the relationships between objects in your scene. This is useful for organizing and manipulating complex scenes.
- Scene View: This is where you’ll spend most of your time in UE4. It shows you the 3D view of your scene, and it’s where you can place and position objects.
Creating your first project in Unreal Engine 4
Once you’ve opened UE4, you can create a new project by clicking on “File” in the top menu bar, then selecting “New Project”. This will bring up a dialog box where you can choose a template for your project. There are several templates to choose from, including 2D games, 3D games, and virtual reality (VR) projects.
For this quick start guide, we’ll create a simple 3D game project. Choose the “Starter” template and click on “Create Project”. This will open up a new window where you can name your project and choose where to save it on your computer.
Adding assets to your project
Now that you have your project set up, you can start adding assets to it. To do this, you’ll need to go into the Content Browser (which we discussed earlier). In the Content Browser, you can use the “+” button to add new assets to your project. You can also drag and drop existing assets from your computer into the Content Browser.
Once you have your assets in the Content Browser, you can use them to populate your scene. For example, you can drag a 3D model onto the Scene View to place it in your scene.